Switched Keys

You might think the title says how I feel about home schooling but you would be wrong. I'm an avid proponent of home schooling and parents' right (or responsibility) to home school. You might think that to be radical but it is a lot more natural than sending the kids off to a government school. That's what public schools are. In fact I would say that home schooling is a key element to Christian parenting.

There is however a group of home schoolers that is carrying the concept to an extreme. In order to protect and preserve their children they are rarely allowed to participate in external activities. Things like sunday school classes with other children are questioned. Every aspect of the children's live is under close scrutiny including relationships with the opposite sex.

In some cases they have their own churches or denomination where similar sentiments are shared. In many cases they use the same logic as the early Christian churches when they formed monastaries and escaped from the world and its influences. This spiritual self preservation a sort of pseudo-purity or super-morality is often at the center of the most religious efforts and radical home schooling is just another one of those efforts.

Don't get me wrong; Christianity is not a permissive faith but equally it is not a seclusive faith. Scripture doesn't teach us to physically escape from the world but to develop spiritual strength and wisdom so that we can overcome its influences and so that our children can also overcome by themselves.